Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP Remastered #16 - What Happened to the Money? Part One

Starting point is 00:00:00 When we first released Episode 16, What Happened to the Money, Part 1, the world was still trying to understand the full scope of Elyke Murdoch's greed. And honestly, we were too. This episode marked the moment when we began following the money instead of just the murder. The receivership motion that Eric Blant, Mark Tensley, and Joe McCull Fyla filed was a legal turning point. It was the first real mechanism designed to stop Elek from bleeding victims' money dry and hiding his stolen millions.

Starting point is 00:00:41 It's also wild to look back and realize how Joe Mocola's role has shifted since then, from Connor Cook's attorney in the boat crash to, bizarrely, a juror's representative after Ehrlich's murder conviction. Way back when we made episode 16, In 2016, Joe was a part of a trio of lawyers demanding accountability. And today, his choices highlight how blurred those ethical lines can become in South Carolina's justice system.

Starting point is 00:01:10 He is on Team Dick, through and through. It's one of those full circle storylines that shows how the good old boy culture adapts even when it's exposed. I had also forgotten until revisiting this episode how both Randy Murdoch and the PMP law firm actually sued ELEC and were later labeled as victims. It's a striking example of privilege protecting itself. Most people would face criminal conspiracy charges for similar behavior, but in the Murdoch universe, accountability always comes with an asterisk. A lot of people have asked if there ever was a final receiver's report, which there was, but I suspected there was a lot more money hiding. Even after that report was released, there were still unanswered questions.

Starting point is 00:02:03 How much money was funneled through hands that claimed ignorance, and how many institutions look the other way because of a familiar last name. Looking back, episode 16 wasn't just about frozen assets. It was about thawing out decades of corruption in the low country. It was the beginning of seeing ELEC, not as a a mastermind, but as a man whose power depended entirely on everyone else's silence. I don't know where all of Alec Murdoch's money went, but a South Carolina judge just made a promising ruling that should lead to answers in this deepening mystery. My name is Mandy Matney, and I've been investigating the Murdoch family for more than two and a half years now,

Starting point is 00:02:55 And this is the Murdoch Murder's podcast. On Tuesday, Judge Daniel Hall ordered an injunction to freeze Alec Murdoch's assets and appointed receivers to manage and recover funds that could pay alleged victims currently suing the Murdox. And that is a big deal. But to understand how big of a deal this is, we need to go back a couple weeks and explain how this ruling happened. Let's go back to Friday, October 22nd, just three days after Ehrlich Murdoch was denied Bond. Eric Blaine called me early in the morning. The audio here is imperfect.

Starting point is 00:03:42 As I said before, I'm always a journalist before I'm a podcaster. And in this moment, I was more concerned about breaking the story than I was about getting perfect audio. You'll also hear from our sweet dog Luna, who tends to get excited when Eric Glan calls. Friday bombshell, we are filing, Mark Tensley is filing, and Joe McCullough is filing, all three of us. The same motion to have a receiver appointed for Alex Burdock and all of his assets and everything. And it's going to be John T. Lay, who is a significant defense attorney in this state. The bombshell motion is saying essentially that he's already shown that he's dissipating assets. The receiver has extremely broad powers, to give you an example,

Starting point is 00:04:35 Peter Proto Poppice has been appointed by Justice Cole. She sits over all the asbestos cases in the state. And essentially, the receiver goes out and sues everybody, recover money for a fund of victims. And already they've recovered like $200 million in just nine months. Same kind of thing that we're doing here. John T. Lay is going to be an officer either under Don Beatty or an appointed judge. And he essentially has the broadest powers of anybody under the law.

Starting point is 00:05:08 He literally can walk into any business bank with an order, show him the order and say hand over everything you got. And so Mark Tensley's motion has already filed in his case. So you can look at it, but this is essentially going to lock Alex to the point if you won't even be able to buy a cup of coffee. That's quote. And anybody in this family, it'll avoid the power of the attorney that Buster has, and this guy will go after the money at Bank of America, traced it. He will unwind every single transaction that Alex has done since 2015.

Starting point is 00:05:46 When he opened the Bank of America account, he'll go to Pee's. who have money and say, you have to discord that money. And more importantly, he's going to trace, and I want you to listen to this, Dick Carpoolian and Jim Griffin's fees. Dick Arputian and Jim Griffin, who are currently representing Alec and multiple criminal cases, were hired to defend Paul Murdoch and the boat crash criminal case in either March or April 2019, which would be soon after Alec Murdoch transferred a large amount of settlement money to his own account, according to prosecutors.

Starting point is 00:06:21 Bland said that the receivers will be able to find out whether or not Griffin and Harputland were paid in fees from the Satterfield settlement. Basically, the receivers should be able to find out where all of Alex's money is gone since he opened the forge account in 2015. It is so oppressive. You cannot believe it. You just cannot believe the powers of a receipt. If we have one of the broadest receiver statutes in the country.

Starting point is 00:06:55 And I'm telling you, Alice will not be able to buy a cup of coffee. And Dick Hartootley and Jim Griffin should look long at heart on whether they want to start spending the attorneys be money that they're getting for Alex either before or now because it's coming all back in. What the receiver does is he goes out and he secures in. Marshalls all owe the money and it goes into a fund. And then the court decides on the victims who gets it. Alex is going to absolutely in his jail cell when he hears this. He knows the, because he's a lawyer, he knows what is coming. And there's no stopping the receiver.

Starting point is 00:07:40 There's no stopping. There's no, they go wherever the money goes. It's absolutely follow the money. He literally comes in and takes over a failed entity or a failed person with tons of money and tons of creditors. He becomes a legitimate, he's like a, he's a combination of a judge and the highest ranking law enforcement officer you can imagine. And he has direct blind communication with the judge who will preside over the case. Got it. So keeping up with all the lawsuits against Elyke Murdoch is super tricky.

Starting point is 00:08:28 And I want to do a quick recap because Eric Bland, Joe McCullough, and Mark Tensley all filed motions to freeze Elick's assets. So the first lawsuit was Mark Tensley's lawsuit. Mark Tensley has been in this fight against the Murdox for more than two and a half years. He filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Alec Murdoch, Buster Murdoch, Murdoch and others on behalf of Mallory Beach's mother in March 2015. And for a recap, in February 2019, a highly intoxicated Paul Murdoch, who was 19 years old at the time, was allegedly driving his father's boat when 19-year-old Mallory Beach was killed in a horrific crash near Paris Island, South Carolina.

Starting point is 00:09:08 At the time of Paul Murdoch's death in June 2021, he faced three felony boating under the influence charges for that crash. Paul Murdoch was charged in that crash, he was never named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit. The lawsuit instead seeks damages from Parker's 55 gas station where the underage Paul Murdoch allegedly purchased alcohol prior to the crash, as well as Murdoch's brother and father who facilitated his drinking, according to the lawsuit. Paul's grandfather ran off Murdoch the third, who died just days after Paul and Maggie's murders, was originally a defendant in the suit and then later dropped from the lawsuit in 2019.

Starting point is 00:09:47 Randolph's estate, as well as other parties such as the Woods family that hosted an oyster roast that evening and losers where Paul Murdoch took two shots before crashing the boat, apparently settled in the case, while Alec Murdoch, Buster Murdoch, and Parker's have refused to settle. For years, the Beach's lawsuit was the only ongoing civil action against Alec Murdoch until September 2021. And now, the disgraced lawyer faces a full flurry of lawsuits. The second lawsuit against Alec Murdoch was filed on September 15th by attorney Eric Lann and his partner Ronald Richter on behalf of Gloria Satterfield's sons. That lawsuit alleges that Ehrlich Murdoch inspired with his attorney friend Corey Fleming and

Starting point is 00:10:30 his banker friend, Chad Wessendorf, to steal millions of dollars from her wrongful death settlement. Alec is the only individual in that lawsuit who has not paid back a dime of the settlement money. And the third lawsuit against Ehrlich Murdoch was filed by attorney Joe McCullough, who was representing Connor Cook, one of the four survivors of the 2019 boat crash. That lawsuit alleges that Ehrlich Murdoch conspired with others, including Corey Fleming, to frame Connor Cook in the boating accident that killed Mallory Beach. There are three other lawsuits that have been filed against Ehrlich Murdoch, and we will get to those later in this episode. But the three that I just mentioned on behalf of the beaches, Connor Cook, and the Satterfields are on the three. important because all three of these plaintiff attorneys filed motions to freeze Ellick's assets. So a week after these motions were filed, Judge Daniel Hall, who was the judge over Mark

Starting point is 00:11:29 Tensley's case, held a hearing in Chesterfield County, which is in the northern region of the state. Mark Tensley took center stage of the hearing in front of about a dozen media cameras. He argued that the receivership in this case is necessary for the many victims to get justice. While Tensley recognized that appointing a receiver is a severe remedy, he argued that the circumstances in this case met the requirements. Alex worded by Dick Carpooke in his admissions bill and national payment he has no one. He has no insurance to defend these lawsuits related to the deaths of these monies. Millions and millions of dollars he's

Starting point is 00:12:11 admitted to have stolen. He is going to jail. There's no question about it. He's going to jail because your lawyer can't be on national television and say you've stolen and then you, any other way. Many of us there on Friday looked around the courtroom and noticed that no one was really there for Elyke Murdoch's criminal defense attorney Dick Harpitalian was expected to show up to support his client, according to my sources, but he was nowhere in sight. While Harpatlin and Griffin are his criminal defense attorneys and are not involved at the civil side of Alec Murdoch's cases. It was telling to me that neither of them showed up on Friday. Perhaps it means that they aren't all in for their client.

Starting point is 00:12:54 Also noteworthy, I didn't see a single representative from NP Strategies, the PR firm that has worked on behalf of the Murdoch family. And Buster Murdoch, whose own assets were up for debate, didn't show his face on Friday. Not a single member of the Murdoch family showed up at the Chesterfield County Courage. on Friday. The only person who was on his side was John Tiller, who represents the only insurance company that has agreed to cover just some of the cost up to $500,000 for the boat crash lawsuit. There is no one to defend Mr. Merrick. In all due respect to Mr. Tiller, Mr. Tiller was a final lawyer, and I respect him, great. He's been hired by one particular insurance company,

Starting point is 00:13:36 and I sincerely doubt that they're going to pay to defend him on these lines. unrelated claims. A receiver can do that. A receiver can make sure that the head is not waste, not lost, not either, because the air conditioner is turned off in this time of year when the humidity as such did it cause the damage as long or because it's going to be lost to the taxi. The receiver will be able to go in and unwind either present the statute of Elizabeth or the assignment statute. There's a number of statutes that they can unwind. But it's unnecessary for us to waste all that time and all that money on the backside of all of these

Starting point is 00:14:16 secret transactions that Buster Merrick is undergoing when we could stop the man. And the receiver would be able to stop that. Several times, Tensi quoted and questioned Dick Hart-Petland's claims that Alec was a poor man with no assets. But obviously, he's living pretty well for somebody who has no assets. He's got a crisis. manager, a very expensive law firm. He's got a number of warriors in addition to Mr. Tiller that he's paying for, and he's living pretty good for somebody with no money and spending a lot of money to not have any. Tensley argued that the Murdox had been making a lot of brow-raising financial moves in recent months, particularly on September 15th, Elyke Murdoch granted his power of attorney

Starting point is 00:15:06 to his son, Buster Murdoch. not going to be able to earn any more money he's not going to put it he's going to jail and so in this case this way mr. Merck is going to jail not only cannot earn more money from which to pay these creditors he has no incentive to do so and the fear there is is that he's going to as the court said hide the money in parts unknown and his design to reduce all of his assets to cash and leave the state for parts unknown that's what they're doing here we We've shown you a copy of the resolution where the hunting club, this green swamp hunt club,

Starting point is 00:15:47 share were sold. I understand it was sold for somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000. They have a greedy white boat. And this is a share in 7,000 acres of property along the Savannah River. They listed their bucks. There were a number of farm implements in large tractors at the most of them. at the Moselle property, I understand that Buster Murdoch has sold those for cash. Tensley argued that Buster and Ehrlich Murdoch are purposely liquidating their assets.

Starting point is 00:16:19 In court, he brought up Buster's recent Vegas vacation with his uncle John Marvin, who, by the way, documented the trip on his public Instagram. Sources saw both Buster and John Marvin playing roulette and Blackjack at the Venetian, just hours after Ehrlich was denied Bond a few weeks ago. go. And I believe that unless the court steps in and takes control and allows the appointment of the receiver, that's what there will be at the end of the day. That Dick Carpooleyan's prediction that he's got no money will be the truth at the end of the day. They've got money right now, Your Honor. They couldn't do this. They couldn't pay Jim Griffin $750 an hour

Starting point is 00:16:59 and get on television to give interviews. They couldn't pay a crisis manager if they didn't have money. Those people don't work for free. There's money, their assets, but we don't and we would simply like to preserve it. If Mr. Burdick has some claim, some need, something that comes up that where he needs money, he can petition if it's an attorney fee, there's some other reason that he needs some money, but he's already made his lawyers a lot of money,

Starting point is 00:17:25 not his lawyers, his other lawyers, his criminal order. This is not a burdensome process. This is a process to do justice. This is a process to protect everyone. Multiple times Tensley mentioned that there are victims out there who don't know that Ellick Murdoch stole from them. And he argued that this process will help those victims get their money back. It is a way that we protect the assets. It is a way that we protect all the claimants, including these people who haven't even, may not even know their money stolen.

Starting point is 00:17:59 If you enter into a structured settlement that indicates that in 10 years you're going to start getting your payments, you may not even know he stole $89,000 or $750,000 or $65,000 from you. You don't even know it yet, but it's coming. Finally, Mark Tensley argued that this case is extraordinary and calls for extraordinary measures because ELEC is a different kind of criminal. It is not as simple as Mr. Griffith wants to contend that we can just go and go. This was a gentleman who's a very sophisticated criminal. He stole millions and millions of dollars, admittedly stole millions of dollars

Starting point is 00:18:49 and manipulated the system. This is not your average criminal. And so to suggest that it's just going to be a simple feat to go in there and be able to undo and figure out what all he's done is intellectually. dishonest. Tensley mentioned the number of extensive real estate transactions between Barrett T. Bullware, who is an alleged drug smuggler and Murdoch? We're going to get into all of that and the jellyfish gambit, which is related to that,

Starting point is 00:19:20 in another episode. There are a number of properties in which the taxes are related, not just this beach house in Hampton and Colleton County. There are extensive real estate transactions between. Mr. Bowler, the gentleman who or the family that they satisfied the $970,000 debt to. It is not as simple as Mr. Griffith wants to contend that we can just go and go. This was a gentleman who's a very sophisticated criminal. He stole millions and millions of dollars, admittedly stole millions of dollars and manipulated the system.

Starting point is 00:20:02 This is not your average criminal. And so to suggest that it's just going to be a simple feat to go in there and be able to undo and figure out what all he's done is intellectually dishonest. I would rather, as the representative of one of the claimants against the assets of Mr. Murdoch, receive a portion of those assets than all of nothing. two additional lawsuits were filed that afternoon, claiming that Elyke Murdoch had borrowed more than $550,000 from his law partner, John E. Parker, and his brother, Randy Murdoch, since March 2021. In Elex Brothers lawsuit,

Starting point is 00:20:51 he claimed that he loaned Ehrlich $75,000 on Thursday, September 2nd, which would be two days before Ehrlich's botched suicide for hire incident and one day before PMPED, which is the law firm, started by his family, allegedly confronted ELEC about misappropriated funds. According to Randy's lawsuit, Randy Murdoch paid ELEC $15,000 for his rehab stay. However, as Tensley pointed out, Ehrlich's attorney Dick Harputin claimed in court twice that Ehrlich Murdoch's insurance company was paying for his rehab

Starting point is 00:21:29 and saying that he was dead broke. So which is it? Annie Murdoch's lawsuit also claimed that Buster has sold various assets belonging to Elyke Murdoch to pay for other debts owed to Palmetto State Bank and the rehab, including a tractor and rotary cutter that Buster Murdoch gave Randy for a $43,000 debt coverage. Soon after Randy filed his lawsuit, John E. Parker, who is a partner at PMPED, filed his own lawsuit. And that claimed that he loaned Ehrlich the following amounts that he had not paid back. $150,000 on March 5, 2021, $77,000 on May 18, 2021, and $250,000 on July 25, 2021, which would be almost two months after Maggie and Paul were murdered. So that would be $550,000 within five months that Ellick Murdoch allegedly took from friends and family alone. That is a lot of money and considering it's on top of the $3.6 million he allegedly stole from the Satterfield settlement just last year.

Starting point is 00:22:43 That is an absurd amount of money to go missing so quickly. In a memo filed Monday, Attorney Mark Tensley argued that those two lawsuits, only support his motion for the court to approve an injunction and receivership. David will read a part of Tensley's memo. These facts raise questions of where Alex Murdoch spent his additional $550,000 to whom he has given it, for what purposes, and was any benefit received in return. If Alex Murdoch is truly broke, it seems strange that his former law partner and his brother, who likely has some intimate knowledge of Alex Murdoch's assets, would take the time.

Starting point is 00:23:23 time and effort to file a lawsuit against him, Tinsley wrote. Then just four days after the hearing, Judge Hall posted the news. He ruled against Alec Murdoch and granted Tensley's motion, which means that the court will order a temporary injunction over Murdoch's assets, and he will appoint two receivers. who are our attorney John T. Lay Jr. and former U.S. attorney Peter and McCoy, Jr., as receivers in the case. This decision gives Lay and McCoy broad powers to not only lock up Ellick Murdoch and his son Buster's assets, but to sue for the recovery of those assets as well.

Starting point is 00:24:12 After this decision was made, Eric Blan spoke with me, and he told me that he believes that the judge's ruling, following Murdoch's bond hearing two weeks ago, shows that the tides are changing and the same. South Carolina justice system. He's, he, there's a clear message being sent, Mandy, that this justice system that we have here now has had enough of Alex Murdoch. Enough of the games, enough of the, you know, the lawyer machinations that he wants to employ. They feel like he's clear, but the message ever the last two weeks is, one, he's, he's clear and present danger, and obviously a potential flight risk or a danger to himself.

Starting point is 00:24:59 So he was jailed without bonds. Two, that he represents a very dangerous man with a pen. And our courts have said, we don't want that to happen anymore. We're not going to let him decide who gets paid and who doesn't get paid, where money goes and where it doesn't go. He's going to have to ask permission from daddy from now on. I asked Eric Bland just how rare this is that a judge orders a receivership over assets in a civil case. It's usually done after a judgment or through a dissolution of a company. It's more, receivers are very common, Mandy, for companies that are unwinding or winding down or things like that.

Starting point is 00:25:48 Okay. Like an Enron or, you know, something else like that. Very rare for an individual, very, very rare to apply to an individual, very rare. But the courts looking at Alex like he's in Enterprise, and they've had enough of them. And the courts are sending a signal to him that he should hear loud and clear that I don't think you're going to be able to get the sweetheart Murdoch deal that you thought you would get by walking into a court. It's not going to happen.

Starting point is 00:26:21 Yeah, absolutely. I think he's going to be serving his time underneath the jail app, underneath the courtroom. I mean, he's going to be serving some significant time when all this is ever with. Tuesday's ruling raises a big question in the Murdoch murder saga. Now the L.A. Murdoch's assets are locked up. Will his quote-unquote bulldog attorneys and fancy PR team still work for him? Who will fight for him now? Eric Blan told me that the receivers will have the power to investigate every financial transaction

Starting point is 00:26:58 that Ehrlich Murdoch was directly or indirectly connected with. Could that mean that we will finally find out if Maggie and Paul had life insurance policies when they were murdered on June 7th? Stay tuned. Stay tuned to the Murdoch Murder's podcast for the latest updates. Follow me on Twitter at Mandy Matney, that's M-A-N-D-Y, M-A-T-N-E-Y, and follow me on Instagram at Mandy underscore N-Ulderscore Hilton Head for more updates. There's so much to unpack in this case, and Mandy works tirelessly to expose the truth. But the truth is she works hard and she does get tired.

Starting point is 00:27:39 If you believe, like I do, that Mandy is the best in the business, and I'm a little biased, visit Murdoch-Murdock Murderspodcast.com and click the support show link to learn how you can help. Leave a five-star review to offset the haters. Refer an advertiser and get a finder's fee or advertise your company, product or service. We can geotarget across the globe and find the right audience to suit your needs. Help us get Luna some treats so she doesn't interrupt the show as much. And absolutely subscribe and your subscriptions are invaluable to that mission. Plus, you get awesome content every day. And don't forget to leave a five-star review and you're going to be nasty and talk about my vocal fry. The Murdoch Martyrs podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my Beyonce, David Moses.

Starting point is 00:28:27 Produced by Luna Shark Productions. Hmm. What's that? That's Luna saying thank you to Wolfgang Bakery in Bluffton, South Carolina, for all of the amazing treats you gave her. Thanks to y'all, Luna has been fully occupied while we worked on this episode, so thank you so much. Stick with us, y'all. We have great episodes in store. and determination that defined that period of our reporting.

Starting point is 00:29:21 Britney Snow's portrayal of me in the scenes with Alicia Kelly as Liz Pharrell, while appreciated and accurate, only scratched the surface of what it was like behind that reporting, two journalists trying to untangle decades of corruption, while it felt like the whole state was gaslighting us for even asking questions. Mark Tensley's presence in the series adds another layer. His on-screen tension between anger, principle, and persistence nears the real-life Mark and the real-life Eric Bland, whose push to hold Ehrlich financially accountable, changed everything. Watching these scenes unfold, especially as the legal walls closed in, reminded me that this was the point where justice stopped being theoretical.

Starting point is 00:30:10 The money trail wasn't just about greed. It was proof of how deep the rot ran. The series takes viewers through that unraveling, and I hope helps the audience understand why we never stop digging.

Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP Remastered #16 - What Happened to the Money? Part One

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